May 19, 2025 • 6 mins
Deborah Norville speaks with Mendte in the Morning about ending her run as host on Inside Edition and her decision to walk away from the job.
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Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:00):
Well, what a pleasure it will be to talk to
Deborah Norville. Speaking of a household name, she is definitely
one of them. Everybody knows Deborah Norville. And before we
bring her in, let me just tell you a couple
of things you may not know. She has been with
Inside Edition now for thirty years. She is the longest
sitting anchor on a daily broadcast program and in history,
(00:25):
and Inside Edition remains the number one syndicated news magazine.
And she made it so. And with that, good morning, Deborah.
Speaker 2 (00:35):
Hey Larry, how are you. That's so nice? Thank you.
Speaker 1 (00:38):
Oh you know what, we met one time and you're
not going to remember it, but I remember it. And
I was hosting juvenile Diabetes' fundraiser down in Philadelphia and
you came down and spoke and I've thought how wonderful
that was. And when I talked to somebody, a couple
of people at my table, they said, oh, she does
(01:00):
this all the time.
Speaker 2 (01:01):
Yeah, yeah, No, it's it's looks if my being there
is going to help jack up the amount of money
you guys are able to raise. Absolutely. But here's what's crazy, Larry.
That was a lot of years ago that we did
that event. Together, and subsequent to that, my niece was
diagnosed with type one diabetes. So that has become a
(01:22):
family issue and concern and you know, source of you know,
we want to find cures, we want to find better treatments,
and yeah, it's it's interesting how things come full circle.
Sometimes it is.
Speaker 1 (01:35):
Interesting and you're not going to believe this, but my
son has been diagnosed since then too.
Speaker 2 (01:40):
He got How weird is that.
Speaker 1 (01:42):
No, he got it late in life, at nineteen years old,
and so his plans, well.
Speaker 2 (01:46):
I hope he's doing well. The good news is it's
so you know, it's it's not you don't want anybody
that you love or anybody that you even hate to
end up with type one. But the treatments are so
much less invasive and onerous than you know, back in
the day where you literally had to take a syringe
and you give yourself injections every day. With the port
(02:08):
and the glucose monitors, it's just there are so many
more helpful tools to manage type one than there were
thirty years ago, for.
Speaker 1 (02:16):
Instance, absolutely, and much of that is because of the
Juvenile Diabetes Research Foundation, and again, thank you, thank you
for your work with them. Let's talk about you for
a second. Why are you walking away from this great gig?
Speaker 2 (02:30):
Oh? It is a great gig, and there's a certain
number of people. Frankly, I think my boss is one
of them who think I'm absolutely crazy and have lost
my marbles? Why am I walking away? But the reason
I'm walking away is I've done this for thirty years.
I can't imagine a story that I haven't covered more
than once. But the bigger thing is, while I've been
(02:52):
here for thirty years, I've been married for almost thirty eight,
and for too much of my marriage I have been
in the position of asking my husband to understand why
I can't be there for this, why I can't be
there for that. And too often I've said, you do understand,
and he says he does, but I think he doesn't,
and I think he doesn't understand anymore. And it's time
(03:15):
for him to be in the first position. Our kids
are grown, they've all graduated college, one is married, so
I'm not in the heavy lift of the family stuff.
But you know, at this point in our marriage, I
think it's time for us to be there for each other.
And he is. If you saw how gleeful he is
you would understand why I'm making this decision. Oh that
is from my marriage.
Speaker 1 (03:36):
Yeah, and your family. That's just wonderful. Take a look
back at thirty years. What are some of the moments
that you're the proudest of.
Speaker 2 (03:43):
Oh, you know what I'm proudest of. I'm proudest of
the fact that this show is on the air. This
show is, as you so kindly said, the number one
show in first n syndication. More people watch Inside Edition
than watch any other talk show then watch CBS Morning
(04:04):
News many times. We're more than Today's show. I mean,
we have a huge and loyal audience, and so that's
what I'm really grateful for. And we have that wonderful
audience because over the years, the show has evolved to
try to meet the audience where they are. They're not
into beach blanket bingo and those silly, skanky stories that
they did before I came to Inside Edition, and honestly,
(04:25):
they've had it with politics. They don't want to turn
on the television our audience and be subjected to someone's
opinion about this, that or the other. They just want
to know a little bit about their world. They want
to see the bad guys held to account. If there's
a product out there that's unsafe for them and their family,
they want to know about it. And they would like
to think that there is a reason to hope that
(04:47):
our country, our world, and our day tomorrow will be
a little bit better. And we try to do stories
that really amplify that fact, and that's what keeps people
coming back day after day.
Speaker 1 (04:59):
So what was that conversation, Like, you said, I'm not
taking this job unless you get rid of these stupid,
skanky stories.
Speaker 2 (05:06):
No. On the contrary, they came to me and they said,
at that time, this was nineteen eighty nine. No, when
did I come. I joined nine. They started in eighteen nine.
I came in ninety five. And there were I think
ten to twelve news magazines that were tabloid magazines. That
was the label they had, like hard copy, American Journal, Extra,
(05:28):
all these shows, and they were really pretty tabby. And
the bosses here said, you know, we think that format,
which they had helped perfect, was and the Current Affair
was sort of the grandaddy of them. They thought that
format was about to run its course and they wanted
to do something that was a little more solid, a
little more journalistic. They wanted to move more in the
direction of CBS News, where I was working at the time,
(05:50):
and at that point, I was expecting my second child,
and CBS offered me to be weekend anchor and I
on America Reporter, which is a dream job, except I
was expecting my second child, and again, I couldn't ask
my husband to fill in as mom and dad when
CBS needed me to be on the road in Kansas
for a story or something. So I made that choice
(06:12):
to leave CBS News to come to Inside Edition for
family reasons. And I'm making this choice now to leave
thirty years later for family reasons. And you know what,
when your heart is in the right place, your head
makes the right decision.
Speaker 1 (06:26):
That's really well said. You know what We're I'm just
going to promote it because we're completely out of time.
You have a new game show coming up called Perfect Line.
Could you come back and talk to us about that.
Speaker 2 (06:37):
I would love to. We'll be shooting it this summer
and it'll debut in September, and I'd love to come
and tell you all about it.
Speaker 1 (06:42):
That's wonderful. I can't wait to have you back. Thanks
so much. Deborah Norville
Well, what a pleasure it will be to talk to
Deborah Norville. Speaking of a household name, she is definitely
one of them. Everybody knows Deborah Norville. And before we
bring her in, let me just tell you a couple
of things you may not know. She has been with
Inside Edition now for thirty years. She is the longest
sitting anchor on a daily broadcast program and in history,
(00:25):
and Inside Edition remains the number one syndicated news magazine.
And she made it so. And with that, good morning, Deborah.
Speaker 2 (00:35):
Hey Larry, how are you. That's so nice? Thank you.
Speaker 1 (00:38):
Oh you know what, we met one time and you're
not going to remember it, but I remember it. And
I was hosting juvenile Diabetes' fundraiser down in Philadelphia and
you came down and spoke and I've thought how wonderful
that was. And when I talked to somebody, a couple
of people at my table, they said, oh, she does
(01:00):
this all the time.
Speaker 2 (01:01):
Yeah, yeah, No, it's it's looks if my being there
is going to help jack up the amount of money
you guys are able to raise. Absolutely. But here's what's crazy, Larry.
That was a lot of years ago that we did
that event. Together, and subsequent to that, my niece was
diagnosed with type one diabetes. So that has become a
(01:22):
family issue and concern and you know, source of you know,
we want to find cures, we want to find better treatments,
and yeah, it's it's interesting how things come full circle.
Sometimes it is.
Speaker 1 (01:35):
Interesting and you're not going to believe this, but my
son has been diagnosed since then too.
Speaker 2 (01:40):
He got How weird is that.
Speaker 1 (01:42):
No, he got it late in life, at nineteen years old,
and so his plans, well.
Speaker 2 (01:46):
I hope he's doing well. The good news is it's
so you know, it's it's not you don't want anybody
that you love or anybody that you even hate to
end up with type one. But the treatments are so
much less invasive and onerous than you know, back in
the day where you literally had to take a syringe
and you give yourself injections every day. With the port
(02:08):
and the glucose monitors, it's just there are so many
more helpful tools to manage type one than there were
thirty years ago, for.
Speaker 1 (02:16):
Instance, absolutely, and much of that is because of the
Juvenile Diabetes Research Foundation, and again, thank you, thank you
for your work with them. Let's talk about you for
a second. Why are you walking away from this great gig?
Speaker 2 (02:30):
Oh? It is a great gig, and there's a certain
number of people. Frankly, I think my boss is one
of them who think I'm absolutely crazy and have lost
my marbles? Why am I walking away? But the reason
I'm walking away is I've done this for thirty years.
I can't imagine a story that I haven't covered more
than once. But the bigger thing is, while I've been
(02:52):
here for thirty years, I've been married for almost thirty eight,
and for too much of my marriage I have been
in the position of asking my husband to understand why
I can't be there for this, why I can't be
there for that. And too often I've said, you do understand,
and he says he does, but I think he doesn't,
and I think he doesn't understand anymore. And it's time
(03:15):
for him to be in the first position. Our kids
are grown, they've all graduated college, one is married, so
I'm not in the heavy lift of the family stuff.
But you know, at this point in our marriage, I
think it's time for us to be there for each other.
And he is. If you saw how gleeful he is
you would understand why I'm making this decision. Oh that
is from my marriage.
Speaker 1 (03:36):
Yeah, and your family. That's just wonderful. Take a look
back at thirty years. What are some of the moments
that you're the proudest of.
Speaker 2 (03:43):
Oh, you know what I'm proudest of. I'm proudest of
the fact that this show is on the air. This
show is, as you so kindly said, the number one
show in first n syndication. More people watch Inside Edition
than watch any other talk show then watch CBS Morning
(04:04):
News many times. We're more than Today's show. I mean,
we have a huge and loyal audience, and so that's
what I'm really grateful for. And we have that wonderful
audience because over the years, the show has evolved to
try to meet the audience where they are. They're not
into beach blanket bingo and those silly, skanky stories that
they did before I came to Inside Edition, and honestly,
(04:25):
they've had it with politics. They don't want to turn
on the television our audience and be subjected to someone's
opinion about this, that or the other. They just want
to know a little bit about their world. They want
to see the bad guys held to account. If there's
a product out there that's unsafe for them and their family,
they want to know about it. And they would like
to think that there is a reason to hope that
(04:47):
our country, our world, and our day tomorrow will be
a little bit better. And we try to do stories
that really amplify that fact, and that's what keeps people
coming back day after day.
Speaker 1 (04:59):
So what was that conversation, Like, you said, I'm not
taking this job unless you get rid of these stupid,
skanky stories.
Speaker 2 (05:06):
No. On the contrary, they came to me and they said,
at that time, this was nineteen eighty nine. No, when
did I come. I joined nine. They started in eighteen nine.
I came in ninety five. And there were I think
ten to twelve news magazines that were tabloid magazines. That
was the label they had, like hard copy, American Journal, Extra,
(05:28):
all these shows, and they were really pretty tabby. And
the bosses here said, you know, we think that format,
which they had helped perfect, was and the Current Affair
was sort of the grandaddy of them. They thought that
format was about to run its course and they wanted
to do something that was a little more solid, a
little more journalistic. They wanted to move more in the
direction of CBS News, where I was working at the time,
(05:50):
and at that point, I was expecting my second child,
and CBS offered me to be weekend anchor and I
on America Reporter, which is a dream job, except I
was expecting my second child, and again, I couldn't ask
my husband to fill in as mom and dad when
CBS needed me to be on the road in Kansas
for a story or something. So I made that choice
(06:12):
to leave CBS News to come to Inside Edition for
family reasons. And I'm making this choice now to leave
thirty years later for family reasons. And you know what,
when your heart is in the right place, your head
makes the right decision.
Speaker 1 (06:26):
That's really well said. You know what We're I'm just
going to promote it because we're completely out of time.
You have a new game show coming up called Perfect Line.
Could you come back and talk to us about that.
Speaker 2 (06:37):
I would love to. We'll be shooting it this summer
and it'll debut in September, and I'd love to come
and tell you all about it.
Speaker 1 (06:42):
That's wonderful. I can't wait to have you back. Thanks
so much. Deborah Norville
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